What if Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things
by Katy M VT
Summary: What if there was no case? That doesn't mean nothing happens. Something happens, but i can't tell you what, it will ruin it. Chapter 5 of 5 up.
1. Investigation

What if there was no case?

Sam and Dean walked into the hotel room after having talked to the dead girl's father. "So, what do you think is going on?" Dean asked.

"Nothing. You heard her father. Angela was a nice girl who died in a car accident. It's not exactly vengeful spirit material," Sam responded in frustration.

"Well, maybe daddy doesn't know everything about his sweet little angel," Dean said sarcastically.

"Stop, Dean."

"Something turned that into unholy ground."

"There's no reason for it to be unholy. I think I know what's going on here," Sam began, tentatively.

"What?" Dean asked.

"This is about mom's grave. It's the only reason I went along with you this long."

Dean couldn't believe what he was hearing. His stupid brother thought that he was imagining a case where there wasn't one. Like he didn't know how to do his job. He brushed past Sam to the door.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked.

"For a drink. Alone!" Dean emphasized the last word and slammed the door on a gaping Sam.

Dean drove around for two hours and then went into the next bar he saw, ordered a beer and hit on the first girl he saw.

"What's your name?" he asked a pretty blonde.

"Mary," she answered.

Dean scowled and turned to his other side where there an equally pretty brunette was just sitting down.

"Hi, I'm Dean," he said.

"Adrienne," she smiled at him. They shared a few drinks and then she asked him back to her place.

"I'd like that," Dean answered. He was in no mood to go back to his hotel where stupid Sam would be waiting for him looking at him with those 'I want to talk' eyes.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The next morning, when Dean woke up, Adrienne had left for work, but left him a note, saying he could hang out for as long as he wanted. He took a shower, raided her fridge and then decided to get to work on his "non-existent" case.

He went over to Angela's apartment and picked the lock. He crept inside and turned around to see a girl staring at him in fear. I'm calling 911, she yelled as she ran into a room and shut the door.

"I'm Angela's cousin," Dean improvised.

"You are?" she asked as she came out of the room.

"Yeah, her dad sent me over to pick up her stuff."

"He didn't say you were coming," she pointed out suspiciously.

"How else would I have a key to your place?" Dean asked, reasonably, dangling his car key, hoping she wouldn't know the difference.

"OK," she shrugged. "I've been packing up her stuff. The box is over here," she said leading Dean into the living room.

"You probably got to see a side of Angela the rest of the family didn't," Dean said, beginning his probe into Angela's character. He had to find out what was keeping her here.

"She was great."

"Yeah?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, she was just so…great."

Another few minutes of being told how great Angela was, and Dean was off with her box of stuff. He threw it in the car and glanced through it. He saw a diary sitting on top and he grabbed it. He decided to go to the park to read it. He spent three hours reading Angela's diary and came to the conclusion, that if anything, she was a little too nice. He could not figure out what had turned that ground unholy, but obviously something had.

He checked his watch and decided to see if Adrienne wanted to grab supper with him. He called her cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Adrienne. It's Dean. Did you want to grab a bite to eat?"

"Sure," she replied, enthusiastically.

"Great, I'll pick you up in fifteen minutes."

"Sounds good."

Dean looked at his cell phone and considered calling Sam, but decided against it. Instead, he went to pick up Adrienne and they went to a little restaurant around the corner from her place.

"So, what do you do?" Dean asked her after they had ordered.

"I'm a secretary."

"That sounds interesting," Dean said.

Adrienne laughed and said, "Well, at least now, I know you're a big liar."

Dean laughed, too. It felt good. He hadn't laughed since his dad had died. That was mostly Sam's fault. Sam was so uptight, it spread to other people.

"So, what do you do?" Adrienne was asking.

"I'm a model," Dean answered.

"Really?" Adrienne asked, not believing him at all. "What would I have seen you in?"

"What I meant was I'm a model citizen."

"You're entertaining, at least," Adrienne said. "Want to come over again tonight?"

"I sure do," Dean said.

The next day, when they woke up, Adrienne said, "I have some errands to run this morning, but we can hang out later this afternoon, if you want."

"That'd be great," Dean replied.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Dean went over to Matt's house. Matt was Angela's boyfriend. "Hi, my name's Dean. I'm a grief counselor with the college."

"Nice to meet you," Matt said and invited him into his apartment.

"So, were there any problems with you and Angela before she died?" Dean asked.

"No, why would you ask that?"

"Just checking. A lot of times when someone dies and there is unresolved conflict, the survivor feels extremely guilty. Just want to make sure that's not going on."

Matt nodded. "No, we weren't having any problems. As a matter of fact, I was going to ask her to marry me. I just bought the ring last week."

"Really?" Dean said, and thought of Sam. Sam, who was shopping for rings shortly before Jessica died. He shook his head to clear it. Sam didn't want to be a part of this investigation, so he didn't need to be in his head right now anyway.

He left Matt's house with no clearer idea of what was going on. They were a happy couple with no problems as far as he could tell. He went to go meet up with Adrienne.

"So, what did you today?" she asked him.

"Went to see an old friend. His girlfriend just died."

"That's horrible. Is he OK?"

"I think he will be. He's going to go home to visit his parents," Dean said in case Adrienne wanted to visit him or have Dean spend more time with him.

"That's nice," she said.

They decided to order food in that night.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"So, Dean, today's Sunday, do you do church or anything?" Adrienne asked.

Dean almost laughed, but was worried he might offend her, so he just said, "No."

"Good me either. What do you want to do today?"

"I actually wanted to go to the cemetery and visit my Angela's grave," Dean said.

"Who's Angela?" Adrienne asked.

"She's my friend's girlfriend. The one who died."

"Oh, well, let me come with you."

"Are you sure?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, today is the last day I can spend with you and I want to be with you every minute."

"Why can't you see me after today?" Dean asked, disappointed. He was really starting to like this girl.

"I'll tell you at the end of the day."

Dean shrugged, "OK."

When they got to the cemetery, Dean went straight to Angela's grave. There was grass all around it. "That's weird."

"What?" Adrienne asked.

"Matt told me all the grass around her grave had died, but it seems to be normal looking."

"Maybe his grief was playing tricks on him."

"Maybe," Dean said, but knew that wasn't the case since he had actually seen it himself.

A groundskeeper was going by. "Excuse me?" Dean said and walked away from Adrienne to speak with him.

"I was here the other day and all the grass around that grave was dead and now it's all lush. What happened?"

"We had to dig the grass up there for a couple of days to lay in a sprinkler system, and now we're finished and have put the soil with the grass back down."

Dean felt like a moron. He hadn't even bothered to see if there was a rational explanation for the absence of grass. Sam was right—as usual. Oh well, he would enjoy the rest of the day with Adrienne and then think about possibly apologizing to Sam tonight.

He walked back over to Adrienne. "What do you want to do the rest of the day?"

"Let's take a hike," Adrienne suggested.

Dean hesitated. Hiking was like camping which he hated, but on the other hand, he really needed to work off some of this nervous energy, he'd been having. Plus, it would make Adrienne happy. "OK," he said.

They went to a nearby nature park and started their walk. They talked about everything. Adrienne told Dean about growing up as the youngest of ten. Dean told Adrienne how his mom had died when he was a kid and how he practically raised his little brother. When they returned to the park entrance, the sun was beginning to set.

"Now, I have to give you a letter. Please don't read it until I've left," Adrienne said, looking down at her feet.

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Just please don't." She handed him an envelope and ran over to join a couple who had obviously been waiting for her. Dean had seen them in the parking lot when they returned but hadn't paid much attention.

When the car was out of sight, Dean shrugged his shoulders and opened the envelope.


	2. The Winchester Way

When the car was out of sight, Dean shrugged his shoulders and opened the envelope. Dean looked at the note. It said, "Your brother is in the basement at 222 Robinson Avenue."

Dean was torn between finding his brother and going after Adrienne to find out what she knew. Obviously Sam won hands down. He ran to his car and headed to the address on the note.

SSSSSSSSSSS

Sam sat in the dark. His hands were tied behind his back. He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there in the dark. He just remembered being hit from behind and then waking up here. He hadn't seen anyone since. He had tried yelling for help several times, but nobody had come. His throat was dry and scratchy and he knew that if someone didn't come soon he would die of dehydration.

"Please, someone come soon," he whispered. Preferably Dean, he thought.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Dean pulled up in front of the house and pulled out his gun and entered the house stealthily. He opened the basement door and carefully stepped onto the first step. He reached for the light switch and flicked it on.

"Sam," he half whispered, half shouted.

"Dean," he heard a faint reply and proceeded down the stairs. He found Sam tied to a support beam in the middle of the room. He was squeezing his eyes shut against the light.

"Are you OK?" Dean asked.

Sam nodded. "Did you bring water?" he rasped.

Dean mentally kicked himself. "In the car. We'll get you free and go out and get it. OK?"

Sam didn't answer and Dean put his gun away and pulled out his knife to cut the ropes. When he cut the ropes away from his chest, Sam sagged into him.

"It's OK, I've got you," Dean said as he helped him out to the car. When they got there, he lowered Sam to the ground and helped him lean against the Impala and grabbed a bottle of water for him.

"Here, not too fast."

Sam took a few sips and Dean took the bottle away.

"Are you OK? Did anyone hurt you?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head no. Not too helpful, considering he had asked two questions which were actually opposites. He looked Sam over and didn't see any obvious injuries. Dean let Sam have some more water and then helped him get in the car. "So, what happened?" Dean asked as they drove off.

"Well, a few hours after you left, the front desk called and said you were down there drunk and making lots of noise. If I couldn't get you quieted down, they were going to ask us to leave. So, I went downstairs and someone hit me from behind and when I woke up I was here tied up. Then nothing happened until you showed up."

They rode in silence for a few more minutes and then Sam said, "So, if you want to look into that case, we can start tomorrow." He had just spent the last three days feeling bad that he'd pissed Dean off by not believing in him, so he decided to change that now.

"Oh, that was a bust," Dean admitted.

"How do you know?" Sam asked.

"I read her diary, talked to her roommate and boyfriend and went back to the gravesite. Turns out they had dug up the grass to put in a sprinkler system or something."

"Oh."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What, Sam?"

"It's just, I kind of assumed, that you wouldn't have had time to do all that," Sam said, hesitatingly.

"I had three days," Dean said confused.

"Yeah, I just figured you would have been busy doing something else. Never mind."

"Oh, man, Sam." Dean realized that Sam had assumed he had spent the last three days looking for him. "I would have been looking for you but I didn't know you were missing."

"How could you not have missed me for three days, Dean? "

"I didn't go back to the hotel. I was staying with this girl. I was mad at you for not believing me."

Sam decided not to pursue it further. He had known that Dean was mad at him and didn't find it odd that he had hooked up with some chick and spent the night, but shouldn't he have called him at some point. Didn't he find it odd that Sam hadn't called. But they wouldn't talk about it. It wasn't the Winchester way. "Where to next?" was all he asked instead.

"See if they have anything at the Roadhouse," Dean answered. All he could think of was finding Adrienne and make whoever hurt Sam pay. That was the Dean Winchester way.


	3. Roadhouse

"Hey, Ellen," Dean said, when they entered the Roadhouse a few days later. Sam had said he was fine, but Dean wanted him to rest up for a couple of days. He was dehydrated and exhausted.

"Hey, boys. How are you doing?" Ellen said, with a big smile on her face.

"Good," Sam said and walked right by. Ellen gave Dean a quizzical look.

"He has to pee," he said. Dean had made sure not to stop when Sam asked, so the first thing he did when he got here was go to the bathroom. "Ellen, I need some information."

"Sure, if I have it."

"Have you heard of anybody wanting to hurt me or Sam?"

"Why? What's going on?" Ellen asked concerned.

Dean looked towards the bathroom to make sure Sam was still away. "Someone kidnapped Sam and tied him up for three days. Then just let me know where he was."

"Isn't that what I heard you did to Gordon Walker?" Ellen asked.

"Son of a bitch," Dean said under his breath. Why hadn't he thought of that?

"Didn't Sam see who kidnapped him?" Ellen asked.

"No, he was knocked out from behind, and when he woke up, there was nobody around."

"Well, if it was Gordon, sounds like you're even," Ellen said, wanting to avoid a bloody feud between two extremely driven hunters.

"No way. His beef was with me. He had no right to take it out on Sam."

Sam exited the bathroom and walked up to them. "Sorry, Ellen. I really had to go." He actually blushed a little when he said that, which Ellen thought was cute.

"Where are Jo and Ash?" Sam asked, looking around.

"Jo went on a trip with some girls she went to school with and Ash is breaking in a new computer in the back room. Lots of weird gadgets attached," Ellen answered.

"Really, like what?" Sam asked intrigued. Ash was the most tech-savvy person he had met in the hunting world. It was a nice change of pace from the usual guns and knives crowd.

"Not sure. Bet he would love to show someone who actually knew what he was talking about though,"

"Cool," he said and headed off in that direction.

Dean was glad he had another distraction. "Do you know a woman named Adrienne?" he asked Ellen.

"No, doesn't ring a bell. She have something to do with Sam's kidnapping."

"Yeah, she was the one who let me know where he was after three days. I think she was also keeping me distracted so I didn't notice he was missing."

"You didn't notice he was missing for three days?" Ellen asked in amazement. She had never met two closer brothers.

Dean was assailed with guilt, once again. "We had had an argument and I left to cool off. Look, I messed up and you can't make me feel any guiltier than I already do."

"No, I wasn't trying to make you feel guilty. I was just surprised that's all."

"OK, well do you know where I can find Gordon?"

"No, and I wouldn't tell you if I did. You need to just let this go, Dean. Gordon's real good and if you keep retaliating against each other, it's not going to end pretty."

"Oh, I'm not going to retaliate. I'm going to kill him."


	4. RV

A middle-aged man sitting at the bar had been taking all this in unnoticed. He got up to leave and went outside to his RV. Once inside and away from prying eyes, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Gordon's number.

"Gordon, it's Kubrick."

"Hey, Kubrick. It's been a while." Gordon had met Kubrick about ten years ago when he was being held prisoner in a vampire's nest. They had already fed on him twice and the next time probably would have been the last. They had already completely drained his wife. Gordon had taught Kubrick all about the supernatural world and how to hunt. Kubrick idolized him.

"Yeah. I'm at the Roadhouse. I just overheard something that concerns you."

"What?" Gordon asked, perking up. The Roadhouse was always a great source of information.

"I overheard some guy say he's going to kill you."

"Do you know who?"

"I didn't catch his name, but he was with someone named Sam. Sounds like you two had a run-in and this guy left you tied up in a chair and now he thinks you retaliated by doing that to his brother, Sam," Kubrick relayed, hoping this all meant something to Gordon.

"And he's going to kill me over that? That was supposed to make us even," Gordon said enraged. He had a very finely tuned sense of justice and could never understand when someone disagreed with him.

"That's what Ellen tried to tell him," Kubrick soothed. If Gordon said they should be even, then they should be even.

"Well, I'm about an hour away from the Roadhouse. Wait for me and we'll get them first," Gordon decided.

"What do you mean, get them first?" Kubrick asked, thinking he already knew the answer.

"We'll have to kill them, before they kill me," Gordon explained.

"But, that's not right. We can't just murder people in cold blood."

"It's not murder. It's self-defense. You said it yourself, they're going to kill me," Gordon reasoned.

"Maybe we could just talk to them."

"Yeah, OK, we'll talk when I get there." Gordon hung up and headed towards the Roadhouse. He had no intention of letting the Winchesters walk away alive, when they were planning to kill him, but he would convince Kubrick when he got there.

SSSSSSSSSSS

Gordon pulled into the Roadhouse parking lot and immediately spotted Kubrick's ugly RV. He got out of his car and walked up to it and knocked on the door. Kubrick opened it. "Hey, Gordon," he said and smiled. He was always excited to see Gordon.

"Hey, Kubrick. They still here?" he asked.

"Yeah, actually there's one of them right now," Kubrick said, looking behind Gordon to the Roadhouse.

Gordon turned around and saw Sam walking to the Impala…alone.

"Hey, Sammy," Gordon called.

"It's Sam," he automatically corrected. Then he looked up and everything clicked into place. The fact that Dean had left Gordon tied up for three days and that's what had happened to him. He froze, uncertain of what to do, as Gordon and some other guy approached. "What do you want, Gordon?"

"For your brother not to kill me. Heard he had his feelers out," Gordon replied.

This was the first Sam had heard of that. If Dean had figured it out, though, it made sense. "What are you talking about?" He decided to play dumb. It wasn't taking much playing. He didn't really know what was going on.

Gordon continued to approach Sam from the front, while Kubrick had continued on and was behind Sam. How had he let that happen? he wondered, too late as he saw Gordon pull out a gun. He turned and saw the other guy holding a gun on him also.

"Look, Gordon, I don't know what's going on here, but I'm sure Dean has no intention of killing you. Where would you get that idea?"

"Kubrick heard him talking about it to Ellen earlier," Gordon said.

"Are you Kubrick?" Sam asked, turning around. He thought he remembered seeing this guy in the bar when they first got here.

"Yes, I am," Kubrick answered. "Maybe we should move this discussion to the RV," he said, nervously. The last thing he wanted was a showdown between a bunch of hunters. That's exactly what would happen if anyone came out and caught them.

"Good idea," Gordon agreed, reaching for Sam's jacket and propelling him in front of him to the RV. Sam tried to break and run, but Gordon was faster and grabbed the back of his jacket. He put his gun up to his neck and said, "try anything again, and I'll blow your brains out. Heard you were pretty smart, went to some Ivy League school or something. Be a shame to destroy a brain like that."

They reached the RV and shoved Sam in. "Give me your cell phone," Gordon demanded.

"Why?" Sam asked.

Kubrick grabbed him and searched through his pockets until he found it. He tossed the phone to Gordon and indicated to Sam that he should sit. Sam stood, defiantly.

"Look, kid, I don't want to hurt you, but you have to do what Gordon wants," Kubrick pleaded with him.

Sam sighed and sat down. He didn't really have a lot of options anyway. Gordon was in front of the door and this Kubrick guy wasn't going to let him attack him. He was like a dog fawning over his master.

"Dean," Gordon said after he had found his name and hit the send button.

"Gordon?" Dean asked, surprised. "Were you the one who kidnapped my brother?"

"Just evening up the scoreboard," Gordon said.

"Well, I disagree. I'm going to kill you for that."

"Did you happen to check the caller ID before you answered your phone?" Gordon asked.

"No, why?"

"I'm outside in the parking lot with Sammy," Gordon said turning to smile at Sam.

"It's Sam," he whispered.

"Why don't you come in for a drink?" Dean offered.

"No, I think I'd rather you came out here," Gordon countered. "I'll give you two minutes and then I'll leave Sam's dead body for you.

"You touch him and I'll kill you," Dean threatened. He was already headed for the door.

"Heard you were planning to anyway?"

"Where are you?" Dean asked as he opened the doors and didn't see anyone.

"We're in the RV. We can see you and if you draw a gun before you get here, Sammy's dead."

Dean started towards the RV. Something just occurred to him. "How do I know he's not already?"

Gordon handed the phone to Sam. He took it and said, "Dean, run, there's…"

Kubrick grabbed the phone and hung up. Dean started running for the RV and Gordon opened the door for him right when he got there.


	5. Weakness

"Sam," he said when he saw his brother sitting at the table.

"Sorry, Dean," Sam apologized. He was always getting Dean into trouble.

"Get in here, and keep your hands where I can see them," Gordon said as he trained his gun on Sam.

Dean entered the RV and said, "This is between you and me. Leave Sam out of it."

Gordon laughed. "If I leave Sam out of it, it wouldn't work."

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked.

"After spending just a couple of hours with you, I figured out what your one weakness was. I'm going to kill him in front of you, but don't worry, I'll kill you right after."

"Gordon, we can't kill them," Kubrick chimed in.

"If we don't kill them, they will kill us," Gordon informed him.

Dean looked at the other guy that he hadn't noticed before. "I don't even know who you are. If you let my brother go, I've got no reason to hurt you."

"Gordon, let's just let them go and get out of here," Kubrick said. He didn't want part of a murder. He was a God-fearing man who killed evil supernatural creatures. Not humans.

"You can leave if you want, but if you do I don't ever want to see you again," taunted Gordon, knowing Kubrick idolized him.

Dean took advantage of the argument and exchanged a look with Sam. Sam gave a barely perceptible nod and Dean rushed Gordon, while Sam knocked the gun from Kubrick's hand. Sam grabbed the gun and held it on Kubrick who put his hands up in surrender.

Dean and Gordon were grappling on the floor for his gun. They didn't have much room to maneuver in the small RV, but Dean managed to gain control of the gun and stood up and pointed it down on Gordon on the floor. He clicked off the safety.

"Dean, you can't kill him," Sam admonished.

"Why not?" Dean asked. He was going to kill us.

"He's human."

Gordon laughed. "Those two were made for each other."

"Sam, I let him live once. I'm not making that mistake again."

"All I did was do the same thing to Sam that you did to me."

"No, you sought him out and made plans to do it. I did it because if I had let you go then, you may have killed us," Dean defended his actions.

"Small distinction," Gordon said.

"Who's Adrienne?" Dean asked.

"Adrienne?" Kubrick asked. "My niece? Did you bring her in on this?"

"Just needed a little distraction. Couldn't have Dean finding Sammy before the three days were up."

"Please leave her out of this," Kubrick begged.

"Yeah, no problem. I don't kill girls," Dean assured the other man.

Dean lifted the gun to shoot it, and Kubrick jumped up to stand between Dean and Gordon.

"This isn't about you. Get out of the way," Dean requested.

Out of Dean's sight, Gordon started to get up.

"Dean, watch out," Sam yelled and turned his gun on Gordon.

"Shoot him, Sam."

"I can't, Dean. I've never killed a person before and I don't intend to start now."

"Sam."

Gordon rushed Sam, feeling that he wouldn't shoot him. He was wrong. Whereas Sam was unwilling to kill a person in cold blood, he would do it to save his brother's life. If Gordon got the gun away from him, there was no doubt in Sam's mind that would happen. He pulled the trigger and Gordon went down.

"No!" Kubrick yelled. He knelt down over Gordon. "He's dead. You killed him."

"I'm sorry," Sam said, and truly meant it. "I didn't have a choice.

"Come on, Sam," Dean said, maintaining cover of Kubrick, until Sam was out of the RV and out of his reach.

They encountered hunters coming out of the bar. They had heard the shot. "What happened?" One of them asked.

Dean answered, "Gordon was going to kill us, so I shot him in self-defense."

Sam shot him a look. Dean gave him a small shake of the head. If there was fallout from this, he would take it—not Sam.

"I know Gordon. He was crazy. You guys get out of here, while we take care of this mess. No cops ever. That's the hunters code, right."

"Right," Dean agreed and steered Sam towards the car.

SSSSSSSSSSSS

Dean checked them into a motel and they carried their bags in. "You've been quiet since we left the Roadhouse," Dean observed.

"I killed him," Sam said quietly.

"You didn't have a choice, Sam."

"I know, but still."

"Dean, I hate to say this, but he wasn't that different from you."

Dean let this sink in for a minute. "Yes he was."

"How?" Sam asked.

"I would never use somebody else to exact revenge on a third party."

Sam smiled. "Third party, huh? That's pretty fancy talk."

"Shut up," Dean smiled back and threw a pillow at him.

"Seriously, though. You're right. You're nothing like Gordon." Sam said as he realized it was true.

The End.


End file.
